NEWS

OneMusic Australia 101 for members

Monday, 24 Jun 2019

You might already have heard about OneMusic. It’s been up and running in New Zealand for about five years. Now we’re launching OneMusic Australia on 1 July 2019. As an APRA AMCOS member, here’s what you need to know.

What is OneMusic Australia?

It’s a joint initiative between APRA AMCOS (representing songwriters, composers and music publishers) and PPCA (representing major and indie record labels and Australian recording artists). The two music rights management organisations got together to issue joint music licences to businesses who use music.

It used to be the case that the likes of venues, shops, gyms and most businesses who play music publicly had to go to the two different organisations to get a music licence from each. Now, OneMusic Australia makes it much simpler and quicker with one licence to cover the songwriter & composers and the recording artists’ work.

OneMusic Australia will make it easier for businesses to comply with the law because they only have to get one music licence, instead of two. Some businesses didn’t even know they needed two different licences to be legally compliant.

What is PPCA?

The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Ltd (PPCA) is a music rights management organisation that grants licences for recorded music and music videos. PPCA then distributes the net licence fees collected to its licensors (generally record labels) and registered recording artists. It represents thousands of Australian recording artists and record labels, both major labels and independent labels.

PPCA has sub-licensed its public performance rights to APRA AMCOS as part of the OneMusic Australia initiative.

Are you already registered with PPCA? If you’re an Australian recording artist, you should be registered with PPCA. It’s free. If you want to be included in this year’s round of payments, you need to be registered by 31 August. Find out more here or email distribution.mail@ppca.com.au or call (02) 8569 1133

Where does the money from OneMusic Australia licensing fees go?

The types of businesses who can get their combined music licence through OneMusic Australia includes hotels, pubs, clubs, nightclubs, councils, gyms, function centres, community halls, cinemas, restaurants & cafes, retailers, live music & sports events, dance schools, eisteddfods and more.

OneMusic Australia collects the licence fees from all of these types of businesses and then splits the money accordingly between APRA AMCOS and PPCA. Each organisation then deducts the costs of running each of their own businesses (APRA AMCOS cost to revenue ratio is about 15%) and distributes the net licence fees to members or licensors based on their own distribution practices.

At APRA AMCOS there are two ways public performance licence fees (ie: the type of licence fees collected by OneMusic Australia) are paid out as royalties:

Based on reports detailing the actual music played in a business – eg: live performance setlists, background music supplier reports, music recognition technology in clubs or at festivals; or

Based on data that approximates the music that is played in general businesses – eg: using reports from radio and TV stations, music streaming services, music charts and music video channels.

The OneMusic Australia initiative is focused on public performance licensing for business and both APRA AMCOS and PPCA will continue to manage their other licensing arrangements (e.g. broadcasting, online services, including streaming) independently.